Board of Directors

Regular Meeting -- September 18, 2011

The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 3:04 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: Vice President Tamara Vogt, Secretary Pam Chambers and Penny Chambers (by phone). The following directors were absent: President and Treasurer Kathy Lee and Laine Morales. Robert McGarey (Executive Director), Ann Carson (by phone) and Fritz Vogt were also present at the meeting.

Reading of Mission Statement and Approval of Minutes

The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud and approved.

Executive Director's Report

990 Correction. Since there was an error in the 990, Fritz suggested that the 30 pages be reprinted and re-sent to IRS.

Old Business

Water Bill. Tamara called the City of Austin and they made an adjustment on the water bill. It seems that our bill is still going to be high from the estimated water usage since the woman couldn't see much of a difference between the time the leak was repaired and the time we started watering the garden in the summer.

New Business

Fundraising/Promotion. Bob passes around a promotional calendar to suggest that we add it to a fundraising letter. Fritz and Tamara talked about email blasts as a possible way we could let people know about the Center. Fritz gets Neil Donald Walsh's emails which are called "Message from the Universe." We could do something like this too.

We are considering a board retreat in November after Thanksgiving. Pam suggested trying to get Larry to donate his dirt house for the meeting..

New Board Member. Bob asks Ann Carson what she feels about joining the board. She realized that it was too much of a chore to get over to the Center in person each month, but that she could do it over the phone. So she would be interested in the possibility. Bob asks what she thinks she could offer. Anne: "I guess I don't have anything to offer especially, except optimism and enthusiasm for life. And I'm in there rooting for people to do all the things I can't do. Peace and Love to everybody I meet." Her therapeutic school of thought was very human and loving in character. After discussing her qualifications, we agreed unanimously to vote her onto the board.

Finances. So far Personal Growth Sessions in September are going well, up to 900 a month.

Volunteers. Bob has a new volunteer executive assistant and a bookkeeper.

Online Classes. The folks at U Mass Boston are hyped to start them. Bob had given up hope because it seemed too late to really dive into promoting the classes, but now with U Mass Boston getting actively involved again, Bob thinks it maybe possible. He did point out that we won't get much income from the online classes at this point, since the tech support costs a lot to have people be able to meet one-on-one in break-out rooms.

Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at around 4:40 pm.

Minutes submitted by Pam Chambers, Secretary, September 18, 2011.